Order of Ideas – ElPropósito2 min de lectura

How a purpose brings order from the ground up

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

We’re all born with a purpose, and circumstances increasingly demand that we align our efforts and activities with it. Why are so many organizations that already have a vision, a mission, values and more now putting special emphasis on this word?

Vision should place us in the future, in what we aspire to be doing or to have achieved within a certain time. Mission defines the business we’re in, and values describe the culture we want. Purpose goes much further. It’s the heart of everything, the goal of all goals, the reason for being: our reason for being and for being in this world, my reason for being. These foundations, which every organization rests on, are the essence of every decision. They’re the frame of reference for knowing whether what we do is right or wrong, and they provide the ethics and morals we should always act on.

On top of that, a purpose, personal or organizational, puts the focus on the impact of the activities tied to it. In other words, on how what we do will positively affect ourselves (economically, perhaps, or in our well-being), others (a social impact, no doubt) and the world (an environmental one). When a decision has a negative effect and we don’t counter it with corrective action, we’re trusting things will get better down the road, and they simply won’t. As Jordan Peterson says, "Do not hide unwanted things in the fog."

There’s little doubt that everything we do affects the world. We’re simply citizens of this world, and more and more aware of it. That’s why we’re increasingly focused on the big question: why am I here? The order of ideas points toward purpose. Every time we set out to do something without a compass, or do things for the sake of doing them without thinking about where north is, we waste time and resources, and we take away the world’s chance to be left a little better.

There’s a concept we need to keep in mind, and whose power and influence we should try to understand: stakeholders. Whoever they are, they hold power and influence over us, and the better we manage them, the better positioned we’ll be. A person or organization whose activities are all in tune with its purpose will generally get results that make those relationships much easier to manage.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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